Lodestone’s first science-fiction mainstage production explores the relationship between art and technology

LOS ANGELES, CA – Lodestone Theatre Ensemble presents the world premiere of Trapezoid, running April 19 – May 25, 2008 at the GTC Burbank (1111-B West Olive Ave., Burbank, CA 91506) located inside George Izay Park. Following on the heels of one of its most critically-acclaimed and commercially successful seasons, the award-winning theatre company kicks off its ninth season with a new play by Lodestone Resident Producer Nic Cha Kim and directed by Chil Kong.

Lodestone’s first presentation of a play in the science-fiction genre, Trapezoid tells the story of a Korean American poet in love hired by a technology think tank to put the “art” in artificial intelligence. When the robot creation falls in love with the human creator, it’s man-made versus mankind with sometimes comic and sometimes tragic results.

“Trapezoid is a loose adaptation of Pygmalion and Galatea but instead of sculpture, we use poetry,” explains playwright Nic Cha Kim. “From Collodi’s Pinocchio, Shelley’s Frankenstein and Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dreamof Electric Sheep, artificial intelligence has been a fixture of science-fiction for centuries despite only being a science for the last 65 years. Trapezoid is my homage to scientists and writers alike.”

Trapezoid playwright Nic Cha Kim is a Korean American writer, video artist and community activist. The recipient of numerous distinctions from the City of Los Angeles, Kim is best known for founding Gallery Row and leading the effort to create a gallery district in Downtown Los Angeles. As owner of Niche Video Art, his work curating cutting-edge digital and video art has been recognized in Art Forum, LA Times and the Downtown News. Kim was named one of the 10 Most Influential Angelenos by LA Alternative Press and profiled on LA18 in the segment Our Role Models. This is Kim’s first mainstage production at Lodestone.

Chil Kong is the Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director of Lodestone Theatre Ensemble. He last directed Lodestone’s world premiere of the critially-acclaimed The Mikado Project and will next stage Tennessee Williams’s Suddenly Last Summer for Lodestone in August.

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 2 pm., April 19 – May 25, with a low-priced preview on April 18. Tickets are $16 for general admission, $14 for students/seniors. Group rates of $12 each are available for reservations of ten or more. Tickets for the April 19th Opening Night Gala with a post-show reception are $25. All Sunday matinees (except May 25) will be pay-what-you-can admission with a $1 minimum.

Founded in 1999 by Philip W. Chung, Alexandra Chun, Chil Kong and Tim Lounibos, Lodestone is committed to providing a forum for Asian Pacific American artists in all aspects of the theatre arts. Lodestone seeks to challenge limited perceptions of Asian Pacific Americans through the creation of original theatrical productions as well as a fresh retelling of established works.

Lodestone Theatre Ensemble is a Company-in-Residence at GTC Burbank.

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1 Comment

Phil:
Surprised there are no “takers” here, as yet.
And belated “break a leg” on tonight’s opening “gala” in Burbank, or is Olive St. still there?
Sounds like your Lodestone venue is a working-man’s, make that woman’s too, theater. And I particularly like your ticket prices. No hundreds of dollars for a ringside pew, and even a pay-what-you-can for such as I.
Your productions sound more than interesting, even if most seem “derivative,” in the sense of revivals or “inspired bys.” At least your guys freely and openly acknowledge and credit their sources, unlike the likes of the purloined plot of “Gone With the Wind,” way back when the windy were considered wise.
I await the arrival of more “original” slants and purviews, well, at least in these columns and precincts, and I hope at least the “alternative” L.A. “press” is paying attention to your earnest efforts. Does the LATimes still require minimal adverts before they “cover” “little” “theater” as they did in my day? Actually, the Daily News did too, but I managed to subvert said policies, on my own time, of course, but they supplied the print.
Ah, theater. Ah, wilderness. And don’t forget that loaf and, expecially, that jug.
CHEERS !
Frank Eng
P.S.: A friend and assiociate of mine has an original “musical” take on Anna May and Sessue, which hasn’t been produced since . . . when?
How about a comedy centered on that map Art Hu noted in re all the atrocities committed against the “heathen” “Chinee” that pinspots the entire Western United States?
Or, maybe, a factual account of Walter U. Lum, and colleagues, three?, who made the pilgrimage to the Capitol to protest anti-Chinese legislations in, was it?, 1923.
And ignore if you can the fact that said Walter U. Lum was my mother’s kid bro. Some kid brother, bro.
Frank
P.S.: Oh, when I say Gollywood, I mean those barbarians who are in the biz strictly for the profits. I DON’T mean people like Sean Penn or the incredible Meryl or all those who struggle AGAINST the tide and the system, including, of course, those who are faceless and nameless and luckless, in the casting rooms that is.
P.P.S.: In today’s Counterpunch, or was it Info Clearing House, there is an obeisance to Michael Moore’s deathless, “Shame on you, Mr. President,” at the Oscars. I was sitting on my own couch, in my own “living room,” such as it is, and I was, instantly, aged and infirm as I remain, ON MY FEET, shouting “Bravo!”
Not since Marlon sent that Native American “princess” have I been so amused, bemused, AND surprised.
Now, if only the Academie would rescind their beknighting of that comedian, I won’t name names.